


Dignity

by larxenethefirefly



Series: Music of Eternity [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:17:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1201000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larxenethefirefly/pseuds/larxenethefirefly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sixth Doctor is in a rather demeaning position. Too bad Rose and their companion are too busy saving the world to realize his plight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dignity

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to rudennotginger for the beta!
> 
> * * *

It was supposed to be a favour to Romana. A quick survey of a level three planet that had suspected temporal influence and then he would be back en route to Earth, where Barbara and Ian were waiting with dinner. It had been a while since he visited them, even if the last meeting had been… less than stellar.

There had been temporal influence on the planet, of course, but the readings simply picked up signatures of Time Agents that had been in the area, and after finding a bar with a particular brand of whiskey he put two and two together and got seven. Rose and Frobisher, who was still a penguin, had wandered off while he was taking a few readings and it was while he was looking for them that things had gone south. Quite literally.

One moment he was walking towards the town centre and the next he was falling, landing in some sort of animal trap. The locals had taken one look at him and had started talking amongst themselves excitedly, skin pulsing in psychedelic shades as they ran off to alert whoever was in charge. They had hauled him out not long after, but much to his chagrin stripped him of his clothes and dressed him in a loincloth. They had ignored his demands to return his clothes and his rants on the subject while herding him towards a large building, a statue of a prism standing in the courtyard.

What he saw inside made him pause in his dialogue, if only for a moment.

Rose was sprawled on top of an intricately carved futon covered in richly embroidered cushions, dressed in silks and draped with bejewelled chains. The sudden shift to luxury from the primitive dwellings outside made a part of his mind wonder about the contrast, but most of it was currently squeaking at the sight of Rose eyeing him like he was her next meal.

“Your fertility slave has arrived your holiness, just like you decreed!” One of his captors exclaimed.

His words made the Doctor snap out of his trance. “I beg your pardon?” He demanded.

“Thank you, your goddess is pleased with your loyalty,” Rose purred, in a voice he normally didn’t hear outside the bedroom. He narrowed his eyes at her. “If you would present him to me, I will make certain to bless you and your families.”

They herded the Doctor forward excitedly, and he was made to kneel in front of Rose. Through their Bond, he could tell she was extraordinarily smug; she wasn’t telling him why, though, so apparently he was to be kept in the dark and playing second fiddle, a situation this body was distinctly uncomfortable with and unused to.

Rose gestured to one of the waiting natives, and they willingly jumped up and reverently gave her a golden staff topped with a small prism, like the statue outside. She pointed it at the group surrounding the Doctor. “Your goddess blesses you with fruitful families due to your unwavering loyalty in these hard times. Go forth and multiply.”

“Thank you, Goddess!” they exclaimed, with much bowing and scraping.

The Doctor, feeling utterly lost, only watched as Rose stood from the futon and glided to a side door. “If you would bring my fertility slave, we will bless this land in your name. For now, leave the temple.” She nodded to the cloaked figure standing guard, and they opened the door for her.

He was shown inside and unceremoniously shoved in to land at Rose’s feet, the door slammed and locked behind them. “Mind telling me what is going on?” he demanded as he got up, placing his hands on his hips and glaring at her.

Rose seemed to be fighting back laughter. “You look ridiculous.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” he grumbled. “What was that… that farce all about?”

She giggled. “Apparently, I’m the goddess of fertility. On a planet where everyone’s emotions are shown on their skin, people like us are deities.”

He frowned. “What about the Time Agents that were using that bar?”

Rose hefted the staff. “They wanted to try out this planet’s brew, but it proved to be too strong for one rookie and he got a bit too drunk and got into some trouble. He dropped this prism and didn’t realize it; the locals thought it was a sign from their gods. Only problem is, it’s been emitting a type of radiation that affects their ecosystem poorly. They haven’t been able to grow children for nearly a year now.”

“So this was the temporal disturbance, an Ahrazi Crystal,” he said, examining it. “But how did you stumble across it?”

“What you typically fail to do,” she grinned. “I asked around.”

“The domestic approach,” he scoffed, but sighed. “Well, at least we found the source of the problem. What about our clothes?”

“Frobisher’s getting them.” She replied, and at his look of confusion she nodded at the door. Of course, he thought, the cloaked figure. Frobisher had been a penguin when they first saw him, they wouldn’t expect him to change back into his humanoid form. “However, we have to find a way to replace this crystal without them realizing it.”

He looked at it again and nodded. “Oh, that’s easy. I have just the thing back in the TARDIS, storage room H. Near the Guranthian Coils, I believe.” Upon trying the door, however, he remembered it was locked. “Assuming, of course, they let us out of here.”

“Oh, Frobisher can get it when he returns,” Rose said, and something in her tone made him pause and look back at her. The fact that she had shed the silks and was dressed in nothing but her Gallifreyan Bonding pendant made him freeze. “But for now, I believe you’re my fertility slave.”

He gulped.

~*~

They left the planet at dawn, the Ahrazi Crystal removed from the staff and replaced with a harmless chunk of cubic zirconia that the Doctor had cut using a small laser that Frobisher had thoughtfully provided. While he was working, their companion couldn’t help but tease him for his wardrobe, saying that the loincloth was a much better alternative than the coat of many colours. The Doctor ignored him best he could, reminding himself that strangling his companions was not the best move for his health or sanity, despite Frobisher’s attempts to challenge the latter.

Finally, though, they were in the TARDIS and had handed the Ahrazi Crystal to Romana, on their way to drop Frobisher off on a planet of his choosing before heading to Earth.

Rose, no longer the seductive goddess of fertility, was once again trying to beat the second level of a Gallifreyan puzzle box. Frobisher was throwing darts at a star map, blindfolded, hoping to hit at least one planet. So far, all he was doing was getting darts in the wall and annoying the TARDIS.

“Little more to the right, you nearly took my head off,” Rose said without looking up as a dart whizzed past her.

“Sorry,” Frobisher replied, before finally landing on one. The TARDIS let out a series of sarcastic beeps from the console in congratulations. “Oh, I landed on Astoria,” he said brightly as he looked at the map. “Could be worse.”

The puzzle box dinged as Rose ran out of time and she groaned in frustration. “After dinner you are so going to finish those lessons on Gallifreyan,” she complained as the Doctor set the course. “And this thing isn’t helping my Time senses at all!”

“It takes centuries for a native to learn it, Rose. You’ve only had decades.” The Doctor replied as he handed Frobisher a credit stick. “We’ll be back in four hours. Don’t get into trouble.”

Frobisher gave an absent reply and left, fiddling with his credit stick. “Ready to go see Ian and Barbara?” Rose asked, placing the puzzle box on the console.

“I was ready before Romana contacted me,” he replied. “And we should have gone to the dinner first, favour or no.”

Rose smirked. “Scared I’m going to tell them of our most recent exploits?”

He gave her a baleful look. “You wouldn’t dare.”

She sashayed past as she headed off to their room to change. “I’d like to see you try and hide anything from them,” Rose reminded him, then vanished down the corridor. He sighed and concluded that she had a point- Barbara especially seemed to have the ability to weasel out any information she wanted, no matter the incarnation. And the Chesterton’s had heard stories worse than this.

“By the way,” Rose said as she popped her head back around the corner, “the loincloth? Very manly.” She gave him her tongue-touched grin and once again left.

He groaned. He was never, ever going to live this down.

* * *


End file.
